ALL EARS: Farmers apprising Commissioner of Agriculture Poonam Malakondaiah of their problems at Gangayapalle in Vallur mandal on Thursday.

KADAPA: The Government will declare drought-affected mandals after end of kharif season on September 30, Commissioner of Agriculture Poonam Malakondaiah said on Thursday.

She toured Vallur, Kamalapuram, Muddanur, Thondur and Pulivendula mandals to inspect the crop pattern, yield and drought conditions. She urged agricultural officers and scientists to enlighten farmers on crops to be taken up basing on the rainfall received.

Farmers were in a crisis and need assistance to ensure that they don't approach private money-lenders for loans. She urged bankers not to delay loan reschedulement and issue of fresh loans in mandals to be declared drought-hit. The Agriculture Commissioner inspected groundnut crop at Thollagangannapalle in Vallur mandal. Ryots told her that `Polambadi' knowledge helped them check pest menace.

Agricultural officials would apprise them of quality and market rates for their produce, she said. She later inspected bengal gram and castor crops cultivated under seed production programme in Pedda Cheppali in Kamalapuram mandal.

PCB to be alerted

She also inspected Bengal gram crop in Yerragudipadu and groundnut crop in K. Kothapalle in Muddanur mandal. When farmers complained that pollution from a nearby cement factory damaged crops, she assured to apprise Pollution Control Board officials. Muddanur ZPTC member Sivanatha Reddy sought cold storage godowns and issue of fresh loans to farmers. She also inspected dried up crops in Thondur and Pulivendula mandals.

Additional Director of Agriculture Rushyendranath, ATMA project director Radhakrishna Murthy, agricultural scientists Sambasiva Reddy and Sankar Reddy, DOT Centre scientist Srinivasulu and mandal agriculture officers took part.

Earlier, addressing officials of various departments, Ms. Poonam urged bankers not to forcibly recover loans from farmers in view of the severe drought conditions in the State.

Addressing officers of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry Departments and agricultural scientists at the Agricultural Research Station at Utukur in Chintakommadinne mandal, she favoured promotion of drip and sprinkler irrigation for agricultural crops. Groundnut and castor crops were being raised with drip irrigation in Gujarat and ryots were getting good yields besides conserving water, she stated.

She advised assistant directors of agriculture, mandal agricultural officers and farm scientists to display their telephone and mobile numbers at gram panchayat offices concerned to enable farmers to apprise them of problems or seek their suggestions. Farmers were in a crisis and hence agricultural officials should be accessible to them round the clock, she said.

Affected districts

Drought was severe in Kadapa, Chittoor, Prakasam, Kurnool, upland areas of Krishna district and parts of Mahabubnagar, Medak, Ranga Reddy and Warangal districts would be in the grip of drought if rainfall was not received in a week, Ms. Poonam stated. The Government proposed cloud-seeding soon.

The Agriculture Commissioner suggested vigorous implementation of Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and watershed programme as agricultural labourers languished for work. Groundnut, pulses and maize yields were badly affected in Rayalaseema and groundnut was raised in only 30 per cent of nomal cultivable area in Kadapa district, she observed.

She urged all MROs to activate helplines. Ryots could refer their problems to a call centre run by N.G. Ranga Agriculture University on ph. No. 1100. Member-expert of Commissionerate of Agriculture Sambasiva Reddy said the grim situation of 1972 recurred this year. Farmers should be discouraged to take up paddy crop during Rabi season, he said. Paddy was viable only under KC Canal, he said.

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